title: Zinc in plasma and breast milk in adolescents and adults in pregnancy and pospartum: a cohort study in Uruguay.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess if age is a risk factor for low zinc nutritional status in pregnancy, postpartum and in breast milk concentration, and the association between mother zinc plasma level with zinc milk concentration.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cohort study comparing adolescents with adult women, with < 14 weeks of gestation at first prenatal care. Socio demographic and plasma zinc data were collected at that moment and at postpartum time (4 + 1 month). Milk zinc concentrations were also measured at 4 th month postpartum.
  
  
  METHODS
  Women were recruited from 16 public primary health care services in Uruguay Subjects: 151 adolescents and 161 adult women.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adolescent average plasma zinc at < 14 weeks of gestation was 84.4 ± 3.6 ug /dl and did not differ significantly from that for adult women (85.2 ± 13.6 ug/dl). Prevalence of hypozincemia was relatively low with but with no difference by age (14.6% in adolescents and 12.3% in adults). Zinc concentrations in breast milk were similar for adolescents, 1.24 mg. /L (CI 1.06 to 1.44) and adult women, 1.27 mg./L (CI .1.0-1.46). There was no correlation between plasma zinc and breast milk zinc concentrations in adults and a weak correlation in adolescents (- 0.27, P <0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prevalence of hypozincemia in pregnancy was relatively low but similar in adolescents and adult women. Neither pregnancy nor age had negative consequences over postpartum plasma zinc, nor over breast milk zinc concentrations. No correlation was found between mother s plasma zinc and breast milk levels.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Social, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Severi
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hambidge
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Krebs
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Atalah
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000737:chemistry*; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D014583:Uruguay; D055815:Young Adult; D015032:Zinc / Q000032:analysis* / Q000172:deficiency / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015032:Zinc